Colour of the Season: Decorating with Grey

Grey is often perceived to be dull and gloomy, a colour that darkens a space, making it feel enclosed and uninviting, yet this simply is not the case. The right shade can bring a calm and soothing effect to the home and is the perfect alternative to beige, brown and taupe. Grey is versatile enough to work alongside vibrant tones and subtle shades whilst being easily incorporated into any environment, accompanying the intended theme of a room. Grey can be a dominating tone or a subtle shade that leads to a background colour or a focal point depending on the grey palette chosen.

Picture the scene… a soft grey room that has vibrant furnishings in shades of reds and pinks with accessories in hues of blues and gas fires as a focal point found in a warming shade of grey. It creates the perfect setting for the ultimate room brimming with comfort, luxury and style.

The Living Room

The living room is the space that is most used by inhabitants of the home, it is multi functional and is used for different purposes including entertainment, relaxation and socialising. The design of the room needs to fulfil the many different purposes and be appropriate to those that use it most frequently.

A consistent design theme of the living room is comfort, every opportunity to create a restful environment should be. Grey is the epitome of a comforting colour; it can come in the form of accessories, furnishings and furniture, anything that fits within the theme of the room.

The space can also cater for multiple shades of the colour to create a unique, comfortable and stylish appearance within just one space.

The Bedroom

The bedroom is the centre of rest and relaxation and the designs and colours included in the room must support this. Many would see grey as the wrong colour palette to make a bedroom a place of style and comfort yet this view could not be more inaccurate. It is able to unite the shades and designs that are already in the room and allow for pops of strong colour whilst maintaining the idea of subtlety.

Certain shades of grey will add to the feeling of warmth and the low-key ambience that is needed for a simple and restful bedroom.

One of the best ways to incorporate grey into the bedroom is through the use of the colour within bedding and soft furnishings. There is a strong connotation associated with black bedding and grey is the perfect alternative. The variation of shades can create a similar effect to that of black without the harshness of the block colour. Soft and subtle is the key to the perfect bedroom and grey creates this effortlessly.

The Kitchen

The kitchen is one area where grey has made a regular appearance and has added to the stylish appearance of a modern day kitchen. The kitchen is the most functional area of the home and this needs to be considered when design and lighting decisions are made.

Grey is able to create a fresh, clean feel, which is ideal for this space without leaving a feeling of coldness. Worktops and counter tops, splash backs and tiles all easily lend themselves to this colour and the variation of shades makes the area feel modern and contemporary without feeling clinical.

Adding brightly coloured accessories gives a pop of colour and warms up the entire room.